Filling Large Gaps Between Skirting Boards And Floor

Got large gaps between my floor and skirting boards around whole perimeter of my bedroom.

Filling large gaps between skirting boards and floor.

With older tongue and groove hardwood or even wide plank floors gaps inevitably develop between the boards mostly because the wood shrinks over time as it dries out and loses moisture content. The size of these gaps often vary and traditional gap filling techniques and products are time consuming messy to install and will often fall out over time. Today finally sealed at least some of them. The problem is magnified when the boards were not tightly laid in the first place.

Another exacerbating condition is water damage. Caulk also doesn t tolerate much movement so that over time it would rip and get dirty. Initially we tried caulking the gaps between the skirting and floorboards but it turned out to be rather messy as the gaps were all different sizes sometimes they were too large and the caulk would fall through to the cellar beneath. Was going to say either it was a poor build or the floors have moved and should be investigated if the gap was 1 inch.

This gap is best covered by a quad moulding fixed to the floor that can slip up and down the skirting as the floor moves between wet and dry seasons keeping the gap covered. Or if your house is masonry and old the gap could be the result of floors supported on piers subsiding independently of the walls. Water logged wood will first swell then shrink as it dries out.